Ayelet Sheffey
Mon, June 21, 2021
Protestors wearing signs with the amount of student debt they owe. Reuters/Andrew Burton
A GoBankingRates survey found 52% of Americans support blanket student loan forgiveness.
It also found 20% of respondents think the government should stay out of debt cancellation.
Democrats are keeping the pressure on Biden to cancel $50,000 in student debt per person.
Democratic lawmakers are keeping the pressure on President Joe Biden to cancel $50,000 in student debt per borrower. While he has not yet done so, there's evidence that a large number of Americans - maybe even a majority - support an even bigger debt wipeout.
A survey released last week from GoBankingRates - a personal finance portal - found that of the 3,600 Americans surveyed, 52% supported blanket student-loan forgiveness, meaning loan forgiveness for everyone with student-loan debt. Meanwhile, 12% of respondents supported loan forgiveness for those with low income and high debt, 11% supported forgiveness for those in public service, and 4% supported temporary loan forgiveness through the pandemic.
The survey collected responses from April 16 to May 18 and asked respondents which approach to student loan forgiveness they think the US should adopt.
The survey's findings align with a study by The Harris Poll in January that found 55% of Americans supported forgiveness of all student debt.
Responses in the GoBankingRates survey from older Americans are "particularly interesting," as the survey noted, given that student-loan forgiveness would significantly benefit older Americans. According to an estimate from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) released in March, 8.4 million borrowers ages 50 and older hold 22%, or $336.1 billion, of the total federal debt load, with what could be as much as 10% interest charged annually adding to the growing pile.
Insider reported last month that many older Americans fear they will die with their student debt.
"I feel like I've actually been responsible, and I've paid a considerable amount of money on my student loans," David Wise, 59, told Insider. "But it really is a debtor's prison."
Student loan payments have been on pause for the duration of the pandemic, and while they are set to resume in October, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has hinted at the possibility of extending the pause even further.
And during the pause, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have been calling on Biden to cancel $50,000 in student debt per borrower to provide immediate aid once the pause lifts, and a recent study from the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute found the lawmakers' plan would help low-income borrowers the most.
Biden has yet to comment on whether he will act on the blanket student-loan forgiveness. He so far has cancelled student debt for some borrowers with disabilities and defrauded borrowers, and he has asked the Education and Justice Departments to review his ability to use executive action to cancel $50,000 in student debt.
According to Schumer, Biden wants Democrats to keep the pressure on to forgive student debt.
"We said, 'We're going to keep at it until you do this,' and to his [Biden's] credit, he said, 'Go ahead.' He's talked about 10 thousand - that's not enough," Schumer said during a student debt forgiveness town hall. "We're keeping the pressure on him."
[Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that the GoBankingRates survey was not a poll, as the initial headline indicated, and to relate the findings to a Harris Poll study in January.]
Biden's housing secretary calls student-loan debt a barrier to Black homeownership
Ayelet Sheffey
Mon, June 21, 2021
HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge told Axios student debt is limiting Black homeownership.
She said it's partly down to failures to enforce the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits housing discrimination.
Black homeownership has been on the decline and Black people pay more for housing than white people.
Black Americans hold a disproportionate burden of the $1.7 trillion student debt crisis, and it's limiting their abilities to own a home.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge told Axios in a Sunday interview that student debt is hindering homeownership for Black people. On Friday, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced in a press release it is updating its student loan monthly payment calculations in an effort to "remove barriers and provide more access to affordable single family FHA-insured mortgage financing for creditworthy individuals with student loan debt, which has a disproportionate impact on people of color."
Fudge said the disproportionately low rate of Black homeownership had driven HUD to reassess student loan calculation policies when determining homeowner assistance, which will increase homeownership access for communities of color.
"Who has student debt? Poor people, Black people, brown people," Fudge told Axios. "We're the people who carry most debt. And so the system's already skewed toward us not being creditworthy."
Fudge said part of the problem comes down to failures in enforcing the Fair Housing Act. The Act, which passed in 1968, says discrimination against people "because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability" when dealing with housing-related activities is illegal.
And yet, Black Americans are still falling significantly behind white Americans when it comes to homeownership. For example, the Indianapolis Star reported that the value of a Black woman's home shot up by $149,000 when a white friend stood in for her, and Insider reported last year that Black families pay over $60,000 more in homeownership costs than white families.
The student debt crisis isn't helping this problem. Thirty-six civil rights organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), released civil rights principles for student debt cancellation that "will help Black and brown borrowers build wealth and enable our economy to move forward as millions of Americans are able to start families, buy homes, and set up small businesses."
They noted that upon graduation, Black borrowers typically owe 50% more than white borrowers, and after four years, Black borrowers owe 100% more. And while President Joe Biden outlined plans on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre to end racial discrimination in the housing market, he failed to address student debt cancellation. Derrick Johnson, NAACP president, said Biden's plans missed the mark.
"Student loan debt continues to suppress the economic prosperity of Black Americans across the nation," Johnson said in a statement. "You cannot begin to address the racial wealth gap without addressing the student loan debt crisis. You just can't address one without the other. Plain and simple."
"For people of color, especially Black people, homeownership is wealth," Fudge said. "It's not only wealth to us, but it's generational wealth."
Read the original article on Business Insider
Ayelet Sheffey
Mon, June 21, 2021
HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge told Axios student debt is limiting Black homeownership.
She said it's partly down to failures to enforce the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits housing discrimination.
Black homeownership has been on the decline and Black people pay more for housing than white people.
Black Americans hold a disproportionate burden of the $1.7 trillion student debt crisis, and it's limiting their abilities to own a home.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge told Axios in a Sunday interview that student debt is hindering homeownership for Black people. On Friday, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced in a press release it is updating its student loan monthly payment calculations in an effort to "remove barriers and provide more access to affordable single family FHA-insured mortgage financing for creditworthy individuals with student loan debt, which has a disproportionate impact on people of color."
Fudge said the disproportionately low rate of Black homeownership had driven HUD to reassess student loan calculation policies when determining homeowner assistance, which will increase homeownership access for communities of color.
"Who has student debt? Poor people, Black people, brown people," Fudge told Axios. "We're the people who carry most debt. And so the system's already skewed toward us not being creditworthy."
Fudge said part of the problem comes down to failures in enforcing the Fair Housing Act. The Act, which passed in 1968, says discrimination against people "because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability" when dealing with housing-related activities is illegal.
And yet, Black Americans are still falling significantly behind white Americans when it comes to homeownership. For example, the Indianapolis Star reported that the value of a Black woman's home shot up by $149,000 when a white friend stood in for her, and Insider reported last year that Black families pay over $60,000 more in homeownership costs than white families.
The student debt crisis isn't helping this problem. Thirty-six civil rights organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), released civil rights principles for student debt cancellation that "will help Black and brown borrowers build wealth and enable our economy to move forward as millions of Americans are able to start families, buy homes, and set up small businesses."
They noted that upon graduation, Black borrowers typically owe 50% more than white borrowers, and after four years, Black borrowers owe 100% more. And while President Joe Biden outlined plans on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre to end racial discrimination in the housing market, he failed to address student debt cancellation. Derrick Johnson, NAACP president, said Biden's plans missed the mark.
"Student loan debt continues to suppress the economic prosperity of Black Americans across the nation," Johnson said in a statement. "You cannot begin to address the racial wealth gap without addressing the student loan debt crisis. You just can't address one without the other. Plain and simple."
"For people of color, especially Black people, homeownership is wealth," Fudge said. "It's not only wealth to us, but it's generational wealth."
Read the original article on Business Insider
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